Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter (Gallagher Girls #2)

Cammie Morgan, Rebecca Baxter, Elizabeth Sutton, and Macey McHenry. No girls in the world can create quite as much trouble as these four can. “I’d Tell You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You” by Ally Carter was a fun ride, but in the second installment of the “Gallagher Girls” series, things just got a lot better and…well, a lot more complicated.

Cammie (Code Name: Chameleon) and her band of lip gloss-using operatives (operatives being a tentative use of the word since they don’t actually “work” for an agency) have their newest, and largest, mission yet in “Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy.” These for girls (and the Gallagher Academy student body) must all learn how to attend the most elite spy school for girls and act “natural” (AKA covert) around boys. Yes, their most difficult mission involves an exchange program with teenage boys. It might sound easy, but it’s not.

Legend has it, though, that there is an academy out there like Gillian Gallagher’s, but legends are just legends and so Cammie never thought twice about it. But she has overheard conversations here and there about the infamous (and non-existent) Blackthorne Institute for Boys. The more Cammie hears, the more she wonders if the students’ gossip holds some truth to it. And after not to long Cammie and her roommates discover that one of Tina Walters’ infamous rumors is true, and it is about Blackthorne; Tina’s tall tale (or not so tall tale now) proves to be even more factual when some boys come to attend their school. And who would have guessed it: Blackthorne boys are now inside of Gillian Gallagher’s walls.

Mission or no mission, Cammie and her crew are hard pressed on every side, and they soon discover that the Blackthorne boys might be at the Gallagher Academy for some very, very unsavory reasons. Will Cammie, Bex, Liz, and Macey be able to figure out why these boys so suddenly showed up at their school, or will the Blackthorne boys get what they came for before the full force of Gallagher Girl fury can come down upon them?

“Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy“ by Ally Carter was a fantastic book! I liked the first book, “I’d Tell You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You”, but the second was waaaaay better. Cammie is a very enjoyable heroine to follow around, and her friends are a riot. While reading this book, I just felt so happy and like I had found a new band of friends to hang out with; it was lighthearted fun with a little bit of adventure thrown into the mix.

As I said before, Cammie and her friends were great, but I must say that I was SURPRISED by how funny they were as a group. Ally Carter did such a fantastic of putting humor into this book, and setting the stage for the next four books that are to come after it. My sister and I were talking and she pointed out that Ally Carter makes her books “grow up” alongside her readers; we as readers mature obviously. Our tastes change and hopefully we get a wise head on our shoulders as we grow older. Ally Carter makes each of the characters in her series grow up as you mature as a person. I think that one of the reasons she is so successful as a writer is that she begins by writing her characters at a younger age (though they seem more mature than it) and then as each book goes on, they grow up just like you and me, instead of staying in eternal warp mode. To me it seems like that is a very smart way to do a book series because each reader feels as if they grew up with the characters (which they have in a way), and it helps you to reach the younger and older generations who love to read. That, I think, is one of the many reasons that I keep coming back for more when Ally Carter is involved. She is such an amazing writer and anything she does in the Young Adult genre, I’ll read.

Another reason why I like Ally Carter’s books is because of the content of each book. As she move on in a series, the content gets a little more mature (intelligence and plot-wise) so a reader never feels like they are reading the same old story, that they are not hearing a broken record play the same cord/lyric/tune over and over again. There is no language in her books (I’ve read the “Heist Society” and now the “Gallaher Girl” series), the relationships are interesting and dynamic, and the romance is cute but never inappropriate. For me, I would recommend her as an author to anyone who might be interested in the Young Adult genre, or in mystery/adventure fiction. Ally has not disappointed me, and I don’t think she will.

Overall, “Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy” was and is a fantastic read. It was loads of fun, and I cannot wait until I get my hands on the rest of this series. Loved it!